SwiftKey announces SDK for cross-platform language engine integration

SwiftKey is making waves again. Not only does it power the hugely-improved keyboard in BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, but it announced a milestone of five million downloads on the Android platform.

Now they’re launching a SDK to allow manufacturers and app developers to integrate the SwiftKey language engine into various applications. According to the press release, the SDK support over 40 languages:

The SDK enables tablet and handset manufacturers to offer cutting edge prediction and correction technology in their products, powered by SwiftKey’s Natural Language Processing language engine. OEMs can build SwiftKey’s core technology into their own keyboard and UI, to improve the core user experience of their devices. The SDK introduces a range of new features in addition to those currently available on SwiftKey X, with support for over 40 languages, including Arabic, Korean and Spanish.

OEMs can basically take SwiftKey, skin it and call it by another name; this will be good for manufacturers who traditionally bundle poor keyboards into their Android handsets. Swype, one of SwiftKey’s main competitors in the space, has been licensing its keyboard to Android OEMs for years, but they insist on maintaining the name.

This is only good news for consumers, as SwiftKey is easily one of the best third-party Android keyboards, and it could allow competing platforms to integrate the excellent language engine .

I am glad RIM picked SwiftKey for the PlayBook keyboard. It works really well!

Pipe

I used swiftkey for a while until swype became available for my galaxy nexus. Swiftkey is really great and has some advantages to swype, but i still prefer swype for now

lolz

The more you use Swype the better it gets. Makes typing a breeze with it’s word suggestions.

uranus

I prefer swype

David

Firstly, I don’t understand how SwiftKey won the award for Best Mobile Innovation – pardon if the award title isn’t perfectly accurate – at MWC this year. Secondly, this was a really good keyboard app about a year ago when I first used it in the initial Beta release on my HTC Desire, but with each and every additional release/update the glitches become more and more to the point where I would consider it more-or-less useless. I say this having tried it on my HTC Desire, SGS2, Droid RAZR, and now my Note. Obviously, I’ve dropped this keyboard entirely and find myself completely happy with the replacement FlexT9 keyboard – which is the best keyboard app I’ve used to date.